PLAYBOT: Last call for Carol!
You will be visited by three ghosts! The first will arrive when the clock strikes one. The second … hey, what? Where are you going? Come back here! You’re not supposed to flee the visitation! … damn it, he got away … curse these chains. Aaaaand … scene! You think the Citadel Theatre would give […]
FALLEN ANGELS: Varscona Farceurs Scandalize Citizenry with Lascivious Hijinks
Back in the Spring of 1925, that young theatrical turk Noel Coward was at it again. He wrote four plays that year – but the one that had the bluestocking brigade most up in arms was Fallen Angels. It featured two young wives, typical Coward creations, pampered, pretty and flighty, admitting to premarital sex – […]
REVIEW: Austen powers heart-warming Christmas romance
This is the time of Jane Austen. We are told that the early 19th Century author sells more books now than she ever did. Just look at the number of stage productions and seemingly unending movies based on her slender output that continue to grace stage and screen. They’ve even turned unfinished novels into movies […]
PLAYBOT: Fallen Angels high class comedy
It’s becoming clear in hindsight that women had a raw deal in the 1920s. Expected to be obedient housewives and mothers, they were assailed by prejudice and hobbled by double standards, and that wasn’t the worst of it. On the plus side, women just won the right to vote, so everything was about to change […]
Hannah Moscovitch birth control drama a wrenching reality show
The title of What a Young Wife Ought to Know may read like one of those bogus pseudo-righteous early 20th Century self-help pamphlets given to prospective brides. In the hands of playwright Hannah Moscovitch, the latest Theatre Network play is anything but a tract against “unnatural means” (read: birth control) to prevent having babies. It […]
PLAYBOT: Theatre Network tackles birth control in edgy new play
It’s hard to believe that with the continuing struggles for women’s rights, there are still politicians who preach abstinence as the best form of birth control. Also Popes. Would they have us go back to the Stone Age? Or the 1920s, say, when women would have many unwanted babies; some mothers and their babies would […]
Take off, eh – to the Mayfield’s best, most Canadian jukebox musical!
Be prepared for a warm bath in nostalgia – and Canadian nostalgia at that. The Mayfield Dinner Theatre has achieved notable success with its jukebox musicals – at least judging from its unending Niagara of tribute shows. Over the years they have mounted British Invasions, various appreciations of Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline, pop […]
Carole King musical a thrilling spectacle of sheer talent
Beautiful is a jukebox musical unlike any you have ever seen – and from Buddy to Mamma Mia you’ve probably seen a lot of them. The show opened in San Francisco in 2013 and proved to be such an immediate success that it was transferred, almost whole, to Broadway a year later. The much-praised Carole […]
PLAYBOT: High expectations for Carole King musical
How a nice Jewish girl from Brooklyn became one of the greatest songwriters of all time is the rich subject of a new musical that opens in Edmonton tonight. From a Broadway hit in 2014 to the Jubilee Auditorium until Nov. 11, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical follows the inspiring story of its titular subject […]
Foote in the Door tackles con game musical with mixed results
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was a thoroughly delightful film released in 1988, starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine. It was a throwback to the Hollywood of the ‘30s and ‘40s with goofy but marvelous performances and a clever plot. In short, it was a property just calling out to be a musical. The result was a […]
TONIGHT, I HUNT: Myth and reality fuse in powerful Redpatch
Early in World War 1, the British High Command had difficulties in distinguishing the Canucks (considered inferior) from the Brits in the ranks. So, at the Battle of The Somme, a single red patch was attached to the Canadians’ uniforms. Some of those soldiers were First Nation and Metis. In fact, some 4,000 volunteered to […]
PLAYBOT: Redpatch tells untold (until now) WWI story
Edmonton First Nations actor Sheldon Elter can’t be in two plays at once – but one imagines he would’ve totally been up for Redpatch. He’s already starring in The Comedy Company (see below), another play about World War I. Coincidence? Not this time, Jasper. Remembrance Day is coming up. At the Citadel Theatre Nov. 1-11, […]
